We spent Wednesday morning at the Elizabethan gardens, which are adjacent to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and are operated by the Garden Clubs of North Carolina, Inc. The gardens feature a very large statue of Queen Elizabeth.

From there we went to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s Center for refuges in coastal Virginia and North Carolina. The lakes, marshes and sounds of the N.C. coast are a haven for waterfowl and there are more refuges scattered along the coast than I realized.

But the exhibit that most interested me was the one about the red wolves, which have been in the news lately. The odds were stacked against them from the beginning. About two weeks ago, the Charlotte Observer ran a story about the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to suspend the release of wolves in the refuge. The 50 to 75 wolves that are there won’t be removed, but the story said the announcement came more than a year after the service said it would review the program under mounting pressure from irate landowners and the state wildlife commission.

I read the story with enormous sadness. Links to it and other Charlotte Observer stories about the wolves are below:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article25836157.html

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article25836157.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article9121166.html

The wolves are victimized by an appalling amount of misinformation and prejudice. There’s a well written and thoroughly researched book that tells the real story of the wolves. It’s called “The Secret World of Red Wolves” by T. Delene Beeland, a nature and science writer who lives in Asheville.

If only those who want to see them wiped out would read it.